Over two years ago I requested that a committee be formed to study the parking in the city of Lawndale. The City Council agreed, appointing two members of the council, one planning commissioner, and two citizens at large, then staff was assigned. The committee met every month, sometimes twice a month.

During this time a parking permit area was established for 90 days with two town hall meetings andreports from a large number of surrounding cities were studied.

Hermosa Beach, Inglewood, El Camino Village and Redondo Beach plus others have parking permit areas. On Oct. 15 the City Council was given a full report and the city attorney said a California Environmental Quality Act study (CEQA) needed to be done.

The staff went out for bids. Three bids were offered and staff recommended one of those bids. On Dec. 17 the council refused to even hear the results and dropped everything. The other councilman that was on the committee and only attended the first meeting objected to everything.

The traffic study was only a part of the CEQA, there was a large part of the study that would have been useful to the city in many ways – ask the city manager or the planning director.

A lot of staff time and money was spent on trying to get answers.

What are they afraid of?

– COUNCILMAN JIM RAMSEY

Committee Chairman

Torture doesn’t work

There is a simple truth at the bottom of this Bush team torture and rendition campaign. Torture is not a dependable way of obtaining actionable facts to protect America or anything else. A person being tortured will fabricate any set of information requested, and be glad to do it.

So why then all the debate among the Republican Party’s candidates saying that torture is OK if it protects America? Torture and the information derived from it protect nothing. The information obtained from torture is useless and non-factual. Information derived from torture is worse than useless as it may cause us to take an action harming people, countries and society in general for reasons that are fabricated or made up.

Let us stop talking like idiots, stop the idiots from talking, and stand up for the truth. Torture and all its fruit are poison. Nothing of value can be derived for America, society or mankind by using torture.

– LEONARD FREDERICK

Redondo Beach

Suggestions for Bisno

Over the last two years San Pedro has been debating the proposal by Bisno Development Company to build 2,300 condominiums at the former Naval housing site on Western Avenue. I chaired a committee appointed by Councilwoman Janice Hahn that examined the proposal. After putting forward several creative ideas, our committee eventually recommended a reduced project that would stay true to the site’s current R-1 zoning. We need housing, but not at the price of more congestion. So in the spirit of finding a resolution with strong community support, here are some suggestions to the developer for 2008:

Get real. You are losing your opportunity for consensus. After our committee met with you for one year, you finally came out with a revised proposal, for 1,950 homes! This proposal would still result in such a dense development that not even one committee member supported it. While there may have once been committee support for a proposal that included senior housing and single family homes, such a dense project communicates greed to most San Pedro residents.

Read the population and traffic studies done for the local neighborhood councils. While you continue to quote one comment from a draft of one study, you have not yet acknowledged the real import of several important studies by outside consultants. They suggest more accurate approaches to predicting the true number of residents, students and automobile trips that will result from the various proposals for the site.

Get serious about traffic concerns. It doesn’t move us forward for you to continue to say that you have complied with the city’s Department of Transportation formulas. Los Angeles residents and even some council members are discovering that these formulas severely underestimate the traffic impact of new growth. Let’s agree on a realistic way to predict traffic impacts.

Don’t believe your own spin. The survey you conducted in May 2007 had a fatal flaw. It mistakenly told residents that your proposal included single family homes instead of condos only. You also misinterpreted the data to claim strong community support for the proposal. Those of us who live and work in this community see how this propaganda campaign is making the community more cynical about anything you propose.

When our committee first met with you, you predicted that we would all see the wisdom of your plans. That hasn’t happened so far. Try the steps outlined above.

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